Every week, members of this blog will start at least a story with a paragraph. You decide on how the stories continue.
Rules:
Continue the story as from the last post on the list
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Sunday, July 04, 2004

Story 1

Readers, it's up to you how to continue the story. No Guidelines. Good luck.

Akhtar was standing on the bridge and looking at the horizon he said to himself:

"Will I ever come back to this wonderful town?"

It has been five years since he left the land he was born, the land of his childhood. He wanted to become a civil engineer and so he did. He can still hear his late grandfather telling him:

"Education is a great gift, take advantage of it. However little lad, never forget your roots and keep seeking wisdom"

Since day one at the University, he has been missing his parents and his old friends. Now he finds it hard to return back.

"I have made new friends and embraced new cultures. This is the place I want to live in and yet I miss my old town so much. It's so confusing."

16 Paragraphs:

As he went to bed that night, images from the last few years danced in his head. He remembered his grandfather's warm smile. He remembered his mother's fragrant baking in the kitchen. He remembered his worry free childhood fried Omar and he remembered the sweat smile of his newest friend Caitlyn. After some prolonged tossing and turning in his bed he was finally able to settle down and go to sleep. That night he had the most amazing dream he has ever had in his life. It was so vivid that it felt more real that reality it self. Akhtar never thought that a dream could change his life so.

As Akhtar slept the winds whirled and toar shreds in streamers from the clouds, hands whisked from the storm reached towards Akhtar and voices breathed an unknown name. Manuela! Akhtar sat bolt upright, waking himself with his own voice in a panic. A shriek and gust of air swept through Akhtar's open window, a memory alight on ...

Omar shrugs what little warmth he can out of the coarsely woven blanket, he huddles cold and awake. everything about him is muffled, footsteps nearby shuffle as though smothered by the darkness in which Omar is shrouded. everything about Omar is indestinct, and yet his senses are sharp with apprehension. Omar tries to squeeze the discomfort from his aching muscles by conjouring the image of his childhood neighbour Akhtar. Akhtar, always so brave and sincere. What would Ahktar do if he were here? ...

Akhtar settled back into a fitful sleep. He woke early, just as the sun was rising. He laid in his bed listening to the sound of the birds as they twittered outside of his window. He began thinking about what he needed to do that day to get ready for his trip. He would start packing today. He had so many things he wanted to take with him. Somethings would fit into his suitcases. Others would need to be sent later. There were many things that his friends had given him that he did not want to leave behind. He began to make a list of things he needed to take.

He finally decided to call a freight company to post his bulky stuffs. He decided to take only his clothes and some books with him. However, his luggage was still very heavy and he was very worried about how to carry it to the station.

Then came his saviour. Caitlyn came in her new Mitsubishi pickup to give Akthtar a help.

"Come on Akthtar, you are going to be late!"

Caitlyn drove quickly to the station, passed the University as Akthar was having what might be his last glance of the City.

Most of his university friends were already waiting for him at the station. He could recognise crazy John who use to meet up with him at the cafe, Janet, his study dude and Brian, his first year flatmate. It was very hard for him to leave the place but after a final farewell, he was already on his journey to home.

"Oh! I am really going to miss this place." He thought to himself. Little did he know about the trouble that's building up in his home town. His town is waiting for a saviour. Could it be him?

After many hugs and tearful fairwells, Akhtar, got on the train and found his seat. It would be a long trip to the south of France before he could catch his flight to Egypt and then home. He stared out of the window for awhile, watching the scenery go by. It was pretty, but it made little impression on Akhtar as he continued to think about what his future might be. Were his childhood friends still there? How would the town look? Was it bigger? Were the older buildings still there? He always loved the old style of these buildings. They seemed so graceful compared to some of the modern architecture that seemed so cold with it's steel and concrete. As he sat there thinking, an older woman came and sat in the seat across from him. She pulled out some fruit and cheese and asked him if he would like to share. Ahktar thanked the lady and they began a conversation. She asked him where he was going and Ahktar replied...

"That's nice. You must have been away from home for quite a while I guess!"

"Yes. Five years. Came here to study. Now it's time to go back and start life again. I am quite frightened though. Are my family and friends the same or have they changed completely? Anyway, that's life. How about you? Where are you up to?"

"Well my son, me too I am going to my old home. I am going to Nice at my daughter's place. She is not really my daughter. Her real mother, my best friend died twenty years ago in an accident. She was an intellect from Egypt who moved with his husband in our town in Italy. Feroz and Zamina were very rich and were very good people. Many people did not really understand their culture but everyone respected them. At the time we were living in a state of fear because of the mafia in the regions. After finishing school I went to work at their place as a maid. To be honest I was more part of their family than being an employee. They got murdered by the gangsters because they were fighting in our cause. However, before Zaminah died, I promised to raise their daughter. Ah Qureisha now you are grown up lady ..."

Suddenly Akhtar could not hear anything and everything around him became grey. As he looked through the window he saw his home town burning. His father was lying on the ground and his mother was crying. ...

The fire brigade was fighting bravely, trying to put out the flames, but it was too much for their limited resources. The emergency units were trying to help those that were burned or had inhaled the smoke. Evacuating as many as possible. The police were trying to direct people away from the fire and keep them from running into their burning homes, trying to collect their few treasured belongings. But, it was too late for those things. The whole scene was of chaos and destruction.

Before the train could come to a stop, Ahktar had grabbed his bags and was leaping from the train, running back to where he had seen his parents. He passed people running away from the fire. He demanded, "what happened? What happened?" But, most just shook their heads and kept going, covering their faces from the smoke.

Finally, he saw someone he thought was familiar, it was his friend Omar. He ran over to him and grabbed his arm. At first, Omar looked confused, but then recognition came. He grabbed Ahktar into an embrace, "My friend, my friend," he said over and over.

Ahktar hugged him and stepped back, "Omar, I must get to my parents. What has happened here?" Omar looked gravely at his friend and replied...

It was another dream and again it was so vivid. Akhtar could feel the flame and the siren still resounds in his ears.

Aktar thought to himself:"Why am I having these nightmares? Is my family really in danger? I spoke to them on the phone yesterday and they were all fine and happy. They are impatient to see me."

"Are you going home by Air?" the lady next to him asked.

"Well I am going to take the next flight from here to Egypt"

"Nice to meet you. My name is Maria and if you do have a chance please drop by at my sweetheart's place. You are a nice lad and would like to meet you again. Here is her number."

"I am Aktar. Thanks for the offer but I have tight schedule. It was nice to meet you too. Hopefully one day I'll come here to visit"

Akhtar picked up his luggage and went to the airport by taxi. Bad luck for him, they got caught in a terrible traffic jam and must have missed his flight. Never the less he tried his chance by going to the customer service desk of the airline. The next flight was two days away. To make things worse, all the hotels he phoned (the lady at the desk gave him a booklet with accomodation details), were fully booked. ...

Fortunately Akhtar was looking relatively handsome (in spite of his tumultuous sleep) and a friendly airline customer service staff member, upon realising Akhtars youthful predicament, became especially helpful. The friendly airline customer service staff member told Akhtar that occasionally spare seats became available at short notice, and if Akhtar stayed near by the staff would inform him of any such seats to Cairo.

After becoming accustomed to the idea that he might be spending the night on the floor of the departures hall, Akhtar shouted himself a coffee at the airport cafe and picked up that mornings paper (it was now almost afternoon). He flicked to page 27; the daily horoscopes. In typical oracular fashion his read... "you may wonder if today may not be such an auspicious day for travel, but a cup of withered grain is next years harvest, the crop will flourish but not as you plan to sow it..."

Ahktar's eyebrows drew together. "What was with the ominous signs these days?", he wondered to himself. First the nightmare and then the horoscope. Well, he always considered himself to be practical when it came to such things. It was his mother that was superstitious and was always urging him to throw the spilt salt over his left shoulder or things like that. As he sat holding the paper, his mind drifted off and thought of his mother, whom he always loved so dearly. She was always worried if he had enough to eat, was his clothes being washed, did he have nice friends and was staying out of trouble. He always answered yes. It wouldn't do to make his mother anxious.

He and his father rarely spoke on the phone. Ever since that day, right before he left for university, when he and his father argued. Ahktar thought of that long ago day and the argument that he had with his father...

"Maybe I am having these weird dreams purely because of my fear and the fact that my dad's attitude to me. I must admit that I miss him badly and I admire his principles. Why does he not talk much to me?"

Akhtar finished his coffee and took some money out of his pocket to pay the bill. Together with the coin he noticed the card that Maria gave him.

"It won't harm to call her, she was a nice person. Afterall, I have one more day remaining here" ...

"Hello, Maria", Akhtar spoke softly into the speaker. "It is Akhtar, I am having the weirdest day in my life. So many events and strange coincidences. It is as if my life was written by several frantic authors each trying to impress each other by jamming more excitement into the narrative. I am tired and weary, do you mind if I spend the day at your place. I would sure appreciate a place to relax and clear my head".

There was a long silence. And finally Maria replied in a low tone, "Clear your head? Relax? My dear you came to the right place."

Akhtar had been fiddling the edge of the card as they spoke, it was a bit dog-eared now. He noticed for the first time the byline beneath the contact details "Clear your head, relax, at Maria's place". Akhtar's day didn't seem to be getting any less weird but Maria did sound, relaxing.

Ahktar hung up the phone and walked down the street to the bus stop. He dug in his pockets and found some change for the ride.

The bus drove through the winding streets of Nice and he looked out the window, taking note of the old buildings, the flower shops, the cafes with all the bright, trendy people sipping coffee and trying to appear cool in the afternoon heat. Life isn't much different than his own village. Just bigger and cleaner maybe.

When the bus driver called for the stop on Maria's street, he jumped off and looked around. It was in the old part of Nice. It looked like it had been forgotten by the rest of the world. The streets were too narrow for cars and the people either walked or rode bicycles. The homes all looked like they were well kept and some of the alleys in between had clothes strung up, just like his village at home.

He walked on until he found the address on Maria's card. The sign outside said, "Rest and Relax at Maria's". He walked up the steps and knocked on the door. It was painted a deep red color and had a large oval window through which he could see the old world furnishings.

Just then, he saw Maria walking to the door through the window. He smiled and she smiled back, opening the door, "Ahktar, how nice to see you. Won't you come in? We were just preparing our late afternoon snack. Come and meet my sister, Lenore."